Council Tax Rebanding SUCCESS stories

Local Council: Ashfield
Previous Band: E
New Band: D

Thanks to Martin and the wake-up call in his article on reducing Council Tax. Thanks to reading this article I went through my old documents and lo and behold found that I had a valuation carried out in 1996 for a re-mortgage, which valued my property at £80,000. I was paying Band E which was for properties valued at £88,000 - £120,000 in 1991!

I contacted the valuation office as the article suggested. It has taken them 6 weeks to deal with the re-banding, but about half an hour ago I heard that my property was going to be moved to a Band D. Not only that, but I am due for a refund of all money overpaid since 1993. A great result. Thanks again Martin.

I don't know how much the refund will amount to but it will certainly be helpful.

UPDATE:- From Ashfield Council today

Your refund has been actioned and you will receive a cheque within the next two weeks in the sum of £2280.94.

Keep up the good work.

Regards

Big Al

Local Council: North Wilts
Band Before: G
Band After: F
Refund: £2600

Was already living in house when CT introduced, never even crossed my mind that 100% identical house next door would be different Band.
Discovered this after reading cases on MSE, just being nosey and seeing what other people's Bands were (Live in a village, with very few houses the same).
Wrote to local VOA office saying that I was one band higher than the identical house next door - VOA said I should have appealed within 6 months of the valuation in 1991.
Wrote back saying, amongst other things, that it was not realistic for me to check all the other CT valuations in my village to see if mine was correct. They rejected this - which I then appealed against. I then received notice to attend a Valuation Tribunal to argue my case. However, before I attended the Tribunal, I received notification that my Band had been changed from G to F, as a result of a "clerical or valuation error".
I then phoned my local Council who said they would refund the overpayment back to '93. THEN - they sent me about half the overpayment, the cheeky b*****s had helped themselves to the rest of the current year's CT in advance !!!! despite the fact that I always paid monthly.
After a meaningfull telephone call, they sent me the rest.

Although the VOA rejected my request and my appeal, they were actually very helpful in telling me what to do next. The final letter from them amused me because it informed me that the change in banding had been done as result of a "Notice of Alteration", not as a result of my appeal. I then had to inform the Tribunal Office that I was not proceeding with my appeal.

In the end a good result !

Local Borough Council: Tewkesbury
Council Tax Band Before: E
Council Tax Band After: D
Amount refunded: £128 + wipe off remaining liability for financial year (£300)

We were in the house less than 6 months when we called the local council CT office about the banding (as we thought it was high compared to the locality) and were promptly told there was "nothing we could do about it as it had always been the same band", so I initially gave up. Then I found the CT trail on MSE and approached the VOA - however I had now been in the house > 6months and was rejected on that grounds. I wrote back with evidence of my telco to the local council and with valuation evidence from the Nationwide BS website and they said that this was not good enough proof but that they would send an officer to evaulate the property as long as I did not contest their decision. I wrote back to say that I would contest (just in case, and because others on MSE did this) but in the end they sent a VOA officer and agreed that I was mis-classified. I got a refund of £128 for the previous part-year and had to pay no more for the current year. Result.

I think that this will stand me in good stead even when the revaluation comes in 2007/2008 but we shall see!

Thanks to Martin and MSE subscribers!